Hard work pays off for The Strives ahead of Ironworks EP launch
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Considering their name, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that The Strives know how to put in the effort.
The Forres three-piece – vocalist/guitarist Phillip Barton, bassist Darren Love and drummer Olly Tinsley – have been juggling their separate work schedules with touring and writing new material.
And for a band who have only been performing gigs for three years, they’ve built up quite the portfolio – having already supported the likes of The View, The Pigeon Detectives, and Baby Strange.
“Yeah, it’s been incredible – the atmosphere at those gigs just blows you away!” Darren exclaimed.
“At that scale bands tend to keep themselves to themselves for the best part of the night, so other than chewin' the fat with them before soundchecks, we tend to just float about doing our own thing and sip some Dutch courage.
“But just meeting these bands, with some of them being our influences, has been a pleasure for us!”
Yet their biggest and, in their view, best show so far had a hometown feel to it, when they supported Scouting for Girls at the Moray village’s venue the Loft.
“Up to now the Scouting for Girls gig was hard to top,” drummer Olly Tinsley explained. “The gig was sold out to 500 people and we hadn’t ever experienced walking on and off stage to an atmosphere like that before – it was an absolute buzz!”
“Up to now” being the optimum words there of course. This Friday sees The Strives tune up for their first headline show at the Ironworks – as they officially launch their debut EP Kingpin.
It’s a nervewracking – and exciting – moment for the young band. “We're buzzing for the gig,” Olly said. “I think we all experience pre gig jitters to some degree but it's more excitement than anything.
“This gig definitely has its pressure due to us being the headliners, but honestly I think it will just make the gig more fun, and more motivation to go out and smash it.”
Kingpin – released last Monday on Inverness record label IMOUT Records – has been a long time coming for the Strives, who first formed back when they were 15. “We would jam in my bedroom and play covers,” Olly said. “We played a few gigs around that time but ended up going separate ways for uni and college.
“Then in 2015 we were all in the same area and just thought, ‘let's get back on it,’ so we headed to the rehearsal room, wrote some new material and started gigging around the country.”
“In 2015 we mainly focused on writing new material rather than playing gigs so we spent pretty much a solid year just writing and rehearsing,” Phillip adds. “It was originally meant to be only three songs which turned into four and then finally five.
“Hearing the songs for the first time fully mixed and mastered blew our minds, it gave us a sense of relief and accomplishment as we feel we’ve done them justice. We wanted to make this EP sound as big as possible with massive sounds, big riffs and lots of fuzz.”
They’ve achieved that, certainly. The EP is stuffed with songs like Rectify; that burbles with restrained menace over its five-and-a-half minutes, and Fever; which closes the EP with a furious distorted bite.
“We naturally tend to create rawness in the music we make,” Darren explained. “As fans of big sounds we can never have enough fuzz, to the point where if we ever figure out a way overdrive acoustic drums we definitely wouldn’t be averse to experimenting with that!
“There’s certainly an element of punk in the mix without a doubt, with the drums mostly dictating the direction and feel of the songs, it’s sometimes very much break neck speed when it comes to the live performances.
“You can expect aggressive, big sounds softened just enough by melody and harmony.”
And that sound translates well live, with the band building quite the live following. “To be honest we have been very fortunate when it comes to feedback after a performance,” Darren said. “We always manage to surprise people how explosive a sound we create as a three piece, and that seems to be a compliment we get frequently.”
Not everybody agrees though, as Darren adds, “I have been told at a gig we played at Downstairs in Aberdeen, before the venue shut down, that I personally ruined the whole night by turning my bass amp up too loud.”
The Strives launch debut EP Kingpin at the Ironworks on Friday, March 23. For tickets: www.ironworksvenue.com
